Truth or Dare
by flyingostriches
Summary: A silly game of Truth or Dare causes Lily Evans to realize her feelings for James Potter. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer:** Don't own it.

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**Truth…or Dare?**

It was the night before their graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the seventh year Gryffindors were going to make the best of it.

All of them, boys and girls alike, sat in a fifteen-person circle in the middle of the seventh year boys' dormitory (the girls' room, of course, could not be accessed by the boys). In this circle were the Marauders—James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew—a few other boys, Lily Evans, and all of the rest of the seventh year Gryffindor girls.

In the middle of the circle was every possible unhealthy food imaginable. The Marauders had skillfully nicked cakes from the kitchens, and, at the last Hogsmeade trip, they had all bought as much candy and butterbeer as they could carry.

There was nothing to be unhappy about, besides leaving Hogwarts. N.E.W.T.s were over, Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, and they were all going out into the magical world at last.

They were all laughing and telling jokes and making fun of one another and remembering times within seven years past, and thinking of what they were going to do when they got out of Hogwarts, which was tomorrow.

Even Lily Evans was having fun. Okay, so, James Potter and his friends were there, but Remus Lupin had always been so nice to her, and Peter Pettigrew hardly talked.

But they were all getting along. And Lily was going to celebrate the last night she ever had to look at James.

Meanwhile, James, who sat directly across from Lily (even though Lily was no good at arithmetic, she knew that, by sitting directly across from James, she would be as far away from him as possible), was musing on a conversation he had had with his friends earlier.

Sirius had told him that Lily would sooner jump out of Gryffindor Tower than go out with him.

Okay, so, it wasn't exactly the conversation James had hoped for. He had hoped that Sirius would say, "Ah, yes, you and Lily will fall passionately in love and start snogging in a dark corner somewhere."

The only encouraging comment had been from Wormtail, and it had been so stupid that James had already forgotten.

It was hard not to look at Lily from where she sat across from him. Her long, wavy red hair was cascading—yes, _cascading_ (it was James's word of the day) over her shoulders, and sometimes she would make to pull it back but would realize that she didn't have a hair elastic on her wrist and would let it fall again. Her green eyes shone with delight as she laughed at things others said—she had even once laughed at something James said! They were all in their pajamas, and Lily looked comfortable, her back against one of the boys' bedposts, her hair down, her legs folded up to her chest. It was so cute when she hugged them.

James had not given up asking her out. He had asked her twice that day already, and both times, she had laughed and said, "So persistent, Potter." But she had not said yes.

"What say to a game of Truth or Dare?" one of the girls asked. Her name was Sylvia Dickenson, and she had a Muggle mother. Lily supposed that was where she had heard of the game. She herself was all too familiar with it.

"What's that?" Peter asked. The third time he'd spoken.

"Oh, you know, Wormtail," Sirius said, waving his hand casually. "Muggles play it a lot; at least, I think they do. You start with a person in the circle, and then they choose someone and say, 'Truth…or dare?' If they choose truth, then the other person asks them a question that might be a secret to them, and they have to answer honestly." Sirius smirked. "If they choose dare, then the other person has to give them a challenge. It should embarrass them—like, river dancing around the room in your undergarments."

"Except," Lily jumped in, "we can't give dares to take off clothes."

Sirius looked a bit disheartened, but he consented.

"So, who starts?"

"How about the oldest?" Sylvia asked. The oldest happened to be James.

James thought for a moment. "Okay. Lily. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

James looked disappointed.

"Will you go out with me?"

The group all laughed. Lily smiled. "No. Sorry."

She is not, James thought.

"Okay, Lils, your turn."

"Eh…Sirius. Black. Whatever in the name of Merlin's toenails you want me to call you," Lily said. "Truth…or dare?"

"Dare."

Lily dared him to stuff the rest of the Fizzing Whizbees in his mouth and then try to sing the Hogwarts song. He did.

And so the game progressed.

"Lily," Sylvia said a few minutes later. "Truth or dare?"

Lily picked truth. Her last dare had been no good, because she had had to run around Gryffindor common room five times shouting, "My name is Lily Evans and I want to get Professor Flitwick in bed!"

"Okay, truth," Sylvia said, humming in thought. "Do you have feelings for James?"

Lily restrained from rolling her eyes. "No. I don't."

If James would have been a sentimental girl, he would have cried. But then he realized that, if he were a girl, he wouldn't like Lily.

…Or would he?

…

Lily then dared Sirius to go out into the corridors, attract Mrs. Norris, and then kick her. Lily then realized that he'd always wanted to do that, and it wasn't much of a dare.

"Lily. Truth or Dare."

Lily sighed. Was she becoming a target now?

"Dare."

An evil look crossed his face. "I dare you to snog James."

The monster within James lifted its head and sniffed the air hopefully. He was _so_ glad that Sirius was friends with him.

Oh, no, Lily thought. Oh, no, no, no. She couldn't kiss James. It was impossible. It couldn't happen. He was just…James. And she was Lily. Lily Evans kissing James Potter could not end up happily.

Ever.

"I can't," she said almost immediately. "Can I say no?"

"No," Sirius replied flatly. "You have to do it or throw yourself out of Gryffindor Tower."

For a moment, Lily considered throwing herself out of Gryffindor Tower, but then she thought, maybe kissing James wouldn't be terrible. All she had to do was peck him on the cheek—Sirius hadn't specified_ where_ she had to snog him.

"On the lips," he added as an afterthought.

Damnation.

Lily looked across the circle at James. He was taking off his glasses.

What, did he think she was going to snog him for ten minutes? Merlin.

Just calm down, she told herself. It'll all be over in five seconds. Then you can sit back down and forget it all.

She rose and stepped over Chocolate Frogs and butterbeer bottles and Cauldron Cakes and Honeydukes chocolate until she was standing in front of James. He looked up at her expectantly.

"Er," she said, looking around the circle at the others. Sirius looked most rapturous.

"Sit in his lap," he commanded.

Lily shot Sirius a scathing look and lowered herself to the floor, scooting her bottom into the James's lap, his legs crossed underneath her. She took a deep breath, and then another, and looked into his hazel eyes with her green ones, and was suddenly aware that this was as close as she'd ever been to him.

"I never thought I'd be doing this," she muttered to him, looking at his lips doubtfully, watching them smile.

She brought her face closer to his… _Just get it over with, Lily!_ Their lips were a centimeter apart. Their noses were touching. She pressed her lips together, aimed, closed her eyes, and covered his mouth with her own.

Lily had planned to pull away, but something pulled her back, and it wasn't James's arms that were suddenly around her, one on her upper back, the other pulling her closer (if that was possible) from the small of her back. At first, she was aware that everyone was watching them, but she soon forgot, and it didn't matter anyway. She awkwardly brought her hands up into James's hair, running her fingers through it, tugging it. He pulled away for a second only to smile at her encouragingly, and she smiled back, and then he closed the distance between them again.

There was applause around the room, and somebody whooped. Lily wished they would stop. She wished they had a broom cupboard.

Sirius then took it upon himself to begin commentating. "I think I see some tongue…ah, yes, open wide, Lily—"

She pulled away from James, reached over to Sirius, and smacked him in the back of the head. James laughed.

Lily looked back at him, beaming, and said, "James, will you go out with me?"

"Always so persistent, Evans," he said, smiling against her mouth.

And they were both glad, for the rest of their short lives, that Lily hadn't chosen truth.

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**A/N:** Okay, so I'm writing Mary Sue, but this insane idea popped into my head. I hope nobody's ever done something like this before. 

Please don't leave any critical reviews. This is just something I wrote for fun, and I don't want to be critiqued on it. I know that it's unlikely for British witches and wizards to play a Muggle game. Heck, I don't even know if they've heard of this game in Britain!

I'm out--reviews are so very welcome. And vitual sundaes for those who review!

--Carrie!


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